HarperCollins, 2023

A YOUNG TRANSLATOR FACES ONCE AGAIN A DANGEROUS SPY PLOT IN THE MISTY GALICIAN LANDSCAPE OF THE POSTWAR PERIOD.
A DARK CENSOR OBSESSED WITH FINDING THE AUTHOR OF A MYSTERIOUS MANUSCRIPT.
A REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY COVETED BY ALL THE POWERS INVOLVED IN WORLD WAR II.

1941. Nazism is advancing across Europe. The iron grip of Generalissimo Franco, like a freezing wind, blows over the Galician cliffs.
José Luis Merinero is a censor in the Ministry of Propaganda, a bitter man who has lost his wife and turns every book he touches to ashes.

One morning, he is tasked with investigating a mysterious manuscript entitled The Swarm, a gripping autobiographical novel in which the translator Elsa Braumann recounts how she must steal the secrets hidden in a certain red notebook by a renowned Nazi scientist.

Three hundred pages separate José Luis Merinero from the manuscript’s author, but as the censor navigates a world of spies, killers, and betrayals, he begins to feel a strange fascination for her. He soon realizes that Elsa’s determination is turning her into a shadow.

The manuscript, however, is unfinished: nothing is known about the mission’s outcome, and the translator has disappeared. Driven by an insatiable thirst for redemption, the censor begins to investigate what really happened to Elsa Braumann. This dark man, who had long abandoned hope, believes there is still salvation for her.